NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Most salaried employees should only expect to get a 3.5 percent pay increase both this year and in 2007, as employers look to keep a lid on payroll expenses, according to a survey published Thursday.

The Conference Board survey, which analyzed the salary budgets for several hundred companies across multiple industries, revealed that this would mark the fourth year the average pay increase was below 4 percent.

"Moderate inflation has allowed employers to continue to control payroll costs," Charles Peck, compensation specialist at The Conference Board said in a prepared statement.

The Conference Board projects a 3.1 percent increase in inflation for 2006 and 3.3 percent in 2007.

On a sector basis, workers in the financial services and insurance fields fared better than their peers when it comes to pay increases so far this year, according to Conference Board, collecting an average of 3.7 and 3.8 percent increases respectively.

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